With a couple of days to spare between football matches, I have been visiting some museums. I have been to the Yorkshire Air Museum before, but as I haven't got a blog post, it must have been longer than I thought.
The museum is outside York on the old RAF Elvington airfield, home to Bomber Command in WW2. Mainly French and Canadian crews who are remembered in memorials and exhibits. The RAF huts contain a wide range of RAF and wartime exhibits, and they are well laid out and described. When we think of the RAF, the focus is on pilots. However, there is a room dedicated to gunners who had a staggering casualty rate during WW2. Of over 55,000 air gunners in Bomber Command, 22,000 were killed.
Most folk come for the aircraft, and they have an excellent collection in two hangers and many more outside. Here are a few of them.
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The giant beast is the Victor, although their Nimrod comes close. An ugly design was first used as a nuclear bomber but then converted to a tanker. It played an essential role in the Falklands War.
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| I counted three Buccaneers. |
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| I have just finished writing about the Falklands War for my latest book, so I was drawn to the Harrier GR3. This was the RAF version that supplemented the Fleet Air Arm version in that conflict. |
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| The Halifax Bomber was used by the Free French. |
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And bringing us up to date, bomber wise, the Tornado.
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| And finally, a well-preserved Hawker Hunter. Last flown by the Qatar Air Force |
A very well laid out museum and well worth a visit.
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